Names of Public Infrastructure, Buildings, & Parks Must Be Decided by 50-YEAR REFERENDUM.

Politicians are voted into office to represent us, the people, in making policy decisions, not in naming OUR public landmarks after their fathers, brothers, mothers, best friends, and partisan personal heros, and at the expense of history.

Congress (and state legislatures) should immediately pass a law that:

a) only allows naming or renaming of public landmarks, infrastructure, parks, buildings, highways, streets, and other taxpayer funded projects (structures) to happen by direct vote of the people in the relevant surrounding areas; and

b) such structures may only be named after a person if that person is someone who has been dead for at least 50 years, to avoid history being arbitrarily changed on political whims, and to prevent any such structures being named after someone with no lasting significance or relevance.

Too much of our history is being destroyed by opportunistic politicians with total disregard for history, total disregard for the original names of these works of art, and total disregard for what the people themselves want. Further, the constant name changes waste taxpayer money by requiring street signs to constantly be rebuilt, not to mention the confusion that ensues.

If I went back to San Francisco and discovered that the CA legislature had changed the name of the Golden Gate Bridge, and to honor a politician (of either party) no less, I’d be horrified. (And yes, all of these bridges are just as important to the history of New York as the Golden Gate is to California).

What if Yellowstone National Park were renamed after some unremarkable modern bureaucrat?

Germany’s Rieperbahn?

China’s Great Wall?

How would you feel if you went to visit the Inca or Aztec Ruins and they put the name of some modern man (or woman) at the front of those heritage sites? Or worse, totally changed them. Unthinkable.

And yet... that is what is happening. Has happened. Must be reversed. Must never happen again.

It is not “just a bridge”. It is not “just a tunnel”. It is not “just a highway”. It is not “just a park”.

In fact, if it’s “just” something, then why change the name in the first place to honor someone else? If it's "just" something, then where is the honor in having your name on it?

Many point out that we still use the original names. But that’s not the point. The legislature’s intent was to irrevocably force new names into the history books while tossing aside the logical, traditional, and wholly apolitical original names. There was NOTHING wrong with the original names. Everyone LOVED (and still loves) the original names. The fact that we, the people, still use the original names is a testament to the power we wield in numbers in a free society. On the flip side, the fact that these bridge names were changed in the first place without public consent or feedback is a testament to how much politicians’ heads have swelled in modern times.

They are not your bridges to rename!

So we want them back.

We don’t even want names appended to the front.

Our public infrastructure is not for you to name. Our public infrastructure is for US to name. The citizens. And in this case, the citizens of every state in this glorious union.

The politician's job is to legislate on policy on our behalf; it is not to choose a name for our tax-payer funded infrastructure like parents do for their new baby.

You are not the parents of our infrastructure.

These bridges and tunnels are not your babies to name or rename.

They belong to us, the people.

We are the ones who gave birth to and built these beautiful structures through our taxes.

But--and it's a BIG but--do not for a moment presume to think you have the right to name them... or rename them.1. You did not personally finance these bridges and tunnels.2. You are being paid handsomely in your job as a legislator/government leader.

Once you start working for us for free, and donating your own money to fund construction and renovation, then we can start talking about putting the names you want on our babies. Maybe. But no, even then, we won't rename a historic bridge after you, your family, or your heroes. Not without our consent. Because, did you forget, with all due respect, you work for us.

Please stand with me! Let us remind politicians that they work for us and that history is not for them to rewrite.